Author's Notes:

I am not dead.

I know, it's FAR too late.

My motivation for writing has slipped recently as well, so that may explain the long updates.

Almost a week had passed since Nathan and I had gone to the old airfield at Foaledo, and what a rough few days they were. Facing paps about the relationship between Celestia and I, Thomas' operation, facing the press about Equestria's first car factory and so on.

It was only a small taster of the weeks to come.

Thomas' operation went OK, although he had a massive argument with Twilight a few days before on how it was/wasn't necessary, with Twilight telling him that it had to be done, whilst Thomas argued the latter, saying that the pills were doing him just fine and he didn't need the operation if he just took the pills at the appropriate time.

I can remember it now:

"Twilight, for Pete's sake! I don't NEED the operation done on me!"

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't! The pills are doing me fine for now and I don't need to have some invisible type of magic force-field weaved under my skin!"

"For NOW, you don't. But the pills will only be effective for so long, and your health WILL deteriorate over time."

"Still, I'd rather cross that bridge when we get to it!"

"The effects of MID will happen over time. It'll be too late for your health if we just 'cross that bridge when we get to it'!"

"Whatever."

"Whatever? HOW CAN YOU BE SO BLASÉ ABOUT THIS!?"

"How long over time would this take?"

"With you we're not sure, but it's highly likely it'll be longer than a pony would, but we'd reckon about 4 years, maybe."

"Isn't it more likely that there's going to be a way for us to go home first?"

Twilight stammered. "W-well, yes. But that's not the point!"

"Well, what?"

"Your health will deteriorate with time, and even if you do go back to your world, then you'll still suffer from the symptoms."

Thomas sighed in defeat. "Do I have to?"

"There's no other way to do it, Thomas. I'm sorry."

After that argument, Thomas went and had his operation. It was a successful operation right enough, but he couldn't quite just adjust to the new "feel" that his body had.

In fact, come to think of it, I don't think he ever did.

After a few years, we actually narrowed what the cause of Nathan's lack of immunity was... his blood type. Whereas Nathan and I were O- and B- respectively, Thomas had A+ blood.

Now, I'm no doctor and I'm not really sure how it works, but from what I can understand, most human blood types seem to be immune to the radiation as it goes through the skin, almost acting like neutrinos do, but magic will mess up the immune systems of people with certain blood types, with A+ being one of them, and causes the blood cells to not replicate properly as well as limiting the brain's ability to function properly.

I can't remember what the other two are, right enough... I think it might be B+ and AB-, but I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, the press was absolutely infuriating to deal with. They kept asking the usual questions like, What do you have to say about a relationship with Princess Celestia? or What comments can you make on Equestria's first automobile?

I mean, both of these things were only at the start and might not have worked out in the end, so why would I get people all up and excited... for nothing?

And did they REALLY have to be the same ones? EXACTLY the same ones?

I just answered with "No comment," and moved on. Thankfully, most knew when to leave stuff alone and stop, although some just wouldn't quit.

I simply ignored them, as getting irritated with them and doing something irrational was the last thing I needed at that moment.

Anyway, a few days had passed and the opening of the extened Royal Gardening took place. At the dinner in the castle (I wasn't poisoned this time around), I was with Celestia most of the time and spoke to some of the nobles, especially Duke Fancy Pants, who was impressed by the idea of building the car, and suggested that a company that he had a majority stake in should design it instead, to avoid any... legal coplications occured, should a gateway between the worlds be opened. I agreed, given that high-ups of BMW wouldn't be particularily happy if they had found out.

I did see Rainbow Dash, Rarity and some of the Wonderbolts talking amongst themselves when I was with Nathan and Thomas, before one of them, an older stallion walked away and came over to us and started talking to Celestia. I didn't really pay too much attention as Thomas was telling us more about the operation.

"...and then, they started weaving this magical crap around my body. It was so weird!"

I saw a cheeky opportunity to reply. "Not weirder than you sneaking into my room whilst on holiday and placing condoms at the bottom of my-"

"Oi!" He interrupted, smirking a little. "That was a joke!"

"That doesn't make it less weird, though."

We laughed, remembering that roadtrip, remembering the "intentional drift" incident, going down Colle de Nivolet, messing around whilst we played pool... just taking it all in again, knowing that something like this may not ever happen again even IF there is a way back... with the amount of hours we were working, it might be more difficult.

After we had stopped laughing, Thomas decided to call it a day and left, with Nathan leaving not too long afterward, and after having a quick chat to Celestia, mainly about tomorrow, I did the same, drifting off not too long after getting into bed.

After a good rest the previous night, Nathan, Thomas and I decided to meet up at the castle entrance to make our way to the backstage area. As we made our way there, we talked about the car situation that Nathan and I found ourselves in going back up the railway line road to Canterlot, laughing that if we were in the other cars, that would never have happened. As much as I hated to admit it, that C63 was a thirsty bastard.

However, when we walked in, instead of seeing some form of preparation work being done, everyone was surrounding Rainbow, leaving all three of us confused.

Thomas was the one to speak up, with all eyes on us. "What's going on?"

A Pegausus who looked like a relative to Spitfire spoke up. "Somepony pretending to be me sent a fake note to my daughter, Spitfire, that said I was sick and needed to take care of me, but I feel fine and she's away."

"Well, who do you think did it?" Nathan asked. The response was Soarin pointing towards a certain cyan coloured Pegasus with a rainbow mane.

"Me?!" Rainbow asked in confusion, reeling back in understandable shock. "I would never do that to Spitfire! Why would you think it was me?"

Another Wonderbolt resembling Spitfire in size, build and mane and fur colour, who I later learned to be called Blaze, was the first to respond. "I did see you and Spitfire leave the dinner together."

Rainbow Dash was beginning to sound irritated. "We were room neighbours in the castle!"

One other Wonderbolt also launched accusations towards Rainbow. "And you did say you'd do anything to fly with Wind Rider."

"Yeah, but I didn't mean ANYTHING!"

Soarin intervened. "Spitfire came by my room and told me she had to go see her mom at around midnight. Where were you then?"

"I was asleep at midnight... having this totally amazing dream. There I was at the arena flying with Wind Rider and the Wonderbolts, like I've always wanted to—" Rainbow explained before suddenly stopping, realising that this wasn't the time. "—eh, never mind. Not helping."

The tension in the room now was immense, with the Wonderbolts whispering to each other, and the three of us looking amongst ourselves. However, we nodded our heads, after coming to the conclusion that since Rainbow was supposedly the "Element of Loyalty", she wouldn't stab her friends in the back for something so petty.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the older stallion smirking about something. I didn't do anything else about it, though, as they seemed to be happily talking during the dinner the previous night, so I instead looked at my watch, and saw the time to be just before ten o'clock.

Four hours until the opening.

Eventually, Soarin spoke. "Rainbow Dash, if you can prove that somepony else is behind Spitfire's disappearance before the start of the show, then you can still fly with us.

"In the meantime, Misty Fly, Blaze, head over to Stormy Flare's house and try to find Spitfire and bring her back."

With the two leaving almost immediately, he then turned back to Rainbow Dash. "I have to warn you. If you sent that letter, the bylaws are clear. I'd have no choice but to ban you from the Wonderbolts forever. Understand?

Rainbow Dash sighed. "I understand. But how am I gonna prove I didn't send a letter that I didn't send?"

"With me!" Rarity's voice rung out, prompting all of us to turn to her direction... and for the three of us to look somewhat confused at the sight her in a trench coat an hat of some kind. "Detective Rarity is on the case, and we are going to get to the bottom of this faster than my costume change!"

Even Rainbow Dash was as confused as we were. "Yeah... what's with the get-up?"

"Obviously, I am channelling Shadow Spade through these gorgeous garments," she replied, leading Rainbow to roll her eyes. "And she would say that the best way to prove that you didn't send the letter is to find out whoever did. First stop – the scene of the crime!"

Whilst Rarity and Rainbow Dash went off to prove the latter's innocence, Nathan, Thomas and I waited around with the Wonderbolts for a while, talking to some of them about the show and more about what they do. Turns out their HQ's close to Cloudsdale, in the clouds. They also do the training for the new cadets there, who hope to get into Equestria's elite flying team. They asked us if we wanted a tour, but we rejected on the grounds that we couldn't walk on clouds (no pun intended). They were disappointed, but they understood why.

It also got us talking about the Red Arrows, and a passing comment to the 'Bolts about the Red Arrows by Rainbow Dash a short while ago prompted me into showing them the routine I showed Rainbow Dash weeks earlier. Needless to say, they were impressed. Soarin in particular was impressed about the pilots themselves, seemingly taking into account that humans don't have wings and the aircraft aren't as controllable as a pegasi's wings.

Eventually, after an hour, though, it became more waiting for either the group of Wonderbolts who left or Rarity and Rainbow, and it became so boring, yet so tense at the same time, nobody saying a word to each other at all. If somebody had dropped a pin, you could possibly have heard it in all four corners of the room.

I was wondering what I could do, since nobody seemed like they wanted to talk, but then I remembered I wanted to ask Twilight for some advice about my moral dillema I had found myself in.

So, with that, I got up and told everyone I was going out for a bit and I didn't want to be kept in that room for that long a period of time. After a little walking back to the castle, I eventually found Twilight talking to Celestia in one of the halls... if I remember correctly, it was the one leading to the castle's west observatory.

Or was it the north tower?

So long ago, I can't even remember.

Anyway, as I was approaching, Twilight noticed me. "Hi, Jack. What are you doing here? I thought you were with Rarity and Rainbow Dash?"

"I was," I replied. "Long story short, though, Rainbow got accused of sendin' Spitfire away on a wild goose chase to help her mother, so she could take her spot, and now Rarity and RD have to go and prove she didn't do it."

"Well, that's not good."

"They seem to be sorting it out by themselves, though, so it should be okay."

"Well, that's good to hear."

"Indeed," Celestia said. "However, I must be getting back to court to sort out a few more issues before I go to the Royal Guard Opening today."

"Of course, Princess."

"I shall hopefully see you both later."

Celestia then walked back into the throne room and closed the doors with her magic, leaving me and Twilight.

"So, what are you doing here, then?" she asked me.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. "I came for some advice on an issue I'm in at the moment."

"What kind of issue?"

"Well, it's kind of complicated."

"Well, try and explain it to me as best you can."

"Okay..." I sighed again, the uncomfortable memories coming back to the surface. "It's just... can we go somewhere else, somewhere quiet? Standing out here in the hall is..."

"That's okay, I understand."

Both of us proceeded to walk down the hall, stopping when we saw a meeting room that was vacant.

"This'll do," Twilight nodded, prompting me to open the door. Looking inside, I saw a classroom sized library of some sort with a table and chairs in the middle, suitable for a conference or meeting with world leaders or businessmen/businesswomen/whatever. Twilight sat down at the table, and I sat next to her.

"So, what's this problem you have?"

"Well..." I began, before I stopped, not knowing if I had told Twilight about her or not. Realising that it didn't really matter, I continued. "Did I ever tell you about a woman called Emily before?"

Twilight seemed to think for a moment. "No, although I think Luna might have mentioned something about that at the Pony Summit. Why?"

I sighed, preparing myself to have to go through those painful memories once again.

"You see, it's like this..."

"...so, I suppose that's the situation I'm in."

Several silent, achingly long seconds ticked by without a sound. I was waiting for a response from Twilight, whilst she was still contemplating a solution. With every passing second, however, I felt like the room's tension just kept getting bigger and bigger, to the point I was almost beginning to panic in my mind. Thankfully, after a while, she spoke.

"That's a bad situation, if I had ever heard of one. It's beyond anything I could have imagined..."

"So what do you think I should do?" I asked somewhat desperately.

"Well, I think you need to tell Nathan the truth about what happened."

"Really?"

"It's an awful situation that you've been put in, and it's been made worse by the fact you had to keep quiet about it, but I really think you need to tell him. A lesson Applejack learned about honesty was kind of similar to the situation you are in. Sometimes, it's better to tell the truth instead of lying to them, even if you think it might hurt them."

I sighed, looking down at the floor with anxiety at how he might take the news. Whilst doing so, I felt a hoof on my shoulders. Looking up, I saw Twilight giving me a supportive smile.

"Think of it like this, if you tell him, it's still better than if he found out what happened himself."

Whilst what Twilight was saying made sense, and it was the logical thing to do, I still couldn't quite bring myself to telling him what really happened that Sunday night.

Not yet, anyway.

I smiled a little, somewhat glad I had got the burden off my shoulders. "Thank you."

Twilight and I got up to leave, but before I actually left, Twilight called out to me, and I turned to see what she had to say. "I've already said it before, but I am really sorry for what has happened to you."

I smiled at her, happy that I had at least told someone else about what happened. "Thank you."

With that, Twilight waved and left, presumably to go back to Celestia, whilst I started to walk back to the Wonderbolt's

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Misty Fly and Blaze eventually came in from the wet weather that had recently developed and walked in, having looked slightly wet from the rain.

The latter decided to inform everyone of what they had found. "We looked everywhere, but Spitfire wasn't at her mom's house!"

Stormy Flare was, understandably, very confused. "Where could she be?"

Before anyone else spoke, however, the door opened again, but this time Rarity and Rainbow had returned, standing in the doorway. Rarity had a somewhat irked expression on her face, while Rainbow was looking slightly disappointed.

As she walked forward, Rarity was the one to speak. "I have found the culprit!"

Some people gasped while Soarin could be heard gulping as Rarity continued. "Somepony sent Spitfire away and framed Rainbow Dash for it. And that pony was none other than... Wind Rider!"

Rainbow Dash was, understandably, very annoyed at this assumption, in contrast to the shock of the other ponies. "Rarity, I can't believe you would accuse Wind Rider of framing me! He's a living legend, for pony's sake!"

"All the evidence points to him!"

Rainbow sneered. "What evidence could you possibly have? All you did was ask about cake, admire décor, and change outfits a gazillion times!"

"Let me explain," Rarity pleaded. "I never believed you would send Spitfire away. When we found the rainbow hairs in Spitfire's room, I could tell they didn't fall out. They... were cut! Nopony loses hair in a chunk. And look at the ends. It's a straight line! They were clearly cut with shears, which means somepony planted it!"

That's already creepy enough, that meant he had to do it in her sleep if she didn't notice it...

"Then when we were examining Spitfire's room, I smelled something on the envelope. Juniper Phoenix, Wind Rider's cologne of choice! Then, in the castle hallway, I noticed some of the damask curtains fell out of their velvet rope-holder, indicating that somepony had been hiding behind them! Perhaps after they dropped off the fake letter?"

Wind Rider had a quick response. "Juniper Phoenix is a very popular fragrance, and anypony could have moved those curtains."

"Precisely why I questioned the castle guards!" Rarity interjecting, almost predicting that Wind Rider would say something similar to what he did. "They were at their post at the entrance to the hallway all night, except for a small window of time when somepony brought them cake. A cake that was ordered by a girl pony with a raspy voice!

"Whoever ordered the cake got a chocolate stain on her ivory scarf... and I couldn't help but notice that Wind Rider's scarf is tied in a tight Windsor knot instead of its usual loose slip knot! And why is that? Is it to hide - the chocolate stain?!

Everybody in the room gasped, besides Rarity and myself. I had suspected Wind Rider from the very beginning from the small, yet noticeable smirks he gave when Rainbow was cornered, and Rarity had obviously worked it out via the evidence, which was much more concrete as proof in comparison.

"Bah, this is preposterous," Wind Rider claimed as he flew over to his fellow Wonderbolts. He took a step towards them to emphasise his next sentence. "Wonderbolts, you don't believe a WORD of this, right?"

Rarity was adamant as well as overly dramatic, however. "Just admit it – you're as guilty of framing Rainbow Dash as you are of ruining that ivory scarf!"

Wind Rider sighed in defeat, knowing the game was up. "Fine! You caught me! I DID IT!"

Rainbow seemed to have conflicting emotions. "...but... why, Wind Rider?! Was it because I took the last broccoli at the dinner and you really, really wanted it?"

Seriously, someone needed to tell her to stop being a fan girl over everything - Daring Do, the Wonderbolts, flying with the Wonderbolts....

"No," Rarity replied curtly. "It was because he was afraid that you would break his long-distance Wonderbolt record! I heard him when Spitfire said you were close to breaking his record. He said, and I quote, 'Heh-heh'.

"That's the polite but disingenuous laugh you make when you want to seem happy but really you're not."

Wind Rider decided to explain his motives further, although the results were already clear without his futher input. "I thought if I could get Rainbow Dash kicked out of the Wonderbolts forever, my record could be preserved."

Rainbow Dash was now more annoyed than upset. "Really? That is so not cool. And I thought you were the coolest Wonderbolt ever. Until now."

"I did what I had to do to protect my record," Wind Rider explained, getting annoyed as well. "Sometimes you gotta play dirty to be the best!"

True to some degree. Looking at you, Lance Armstrong.

Rainbow Dash didn't like this judgement, however. "That's not what being a Wonderbolt is all about."

"She's right! Wonderbolts look out for each other! Which reminds me..." Soarin called out, intervening in the matter, taking a step closer to Wind Rider. "Where IS Spitfire?"

"I sent her the letter pretending to be Stormy Flare. I told her I had Pegasitis, and the only cure is the ice iris in the Crystal Mountains."

"No wonder she's been gone so long," Rainbow concluded. "Ice irises are almost impossible to find this time of year!"

"The Crystal Mountains are too far for anypony to make it there and back before the royal garden opening!" Soarin announced, looking towards Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash, we need you to fly in Spitfire's place!"

Rainbow didn't agree, however, as she turned to the door. "But Spitfire shouldn't have to miss this! I'm gonna get her!"

"But you'll never make it in time!"

Rainbow was off in a flash, however. "Then there's no time to lose!"

After half an hour, things had gone from bad to worse. It was only about twenty minutes before the start of the show, and worryingly, as Blaze pointed out...

"Rainbow Dash is still gone!"

"Oh, don't panic," Rarity responded. "If I know Rainbow Dash, she'll come through."

And almost as if on queue, the door opened suddenly, revealing a happy Rainbow Dash and a panting Spitfire, sweating as if she was flying for her life.

Soarin was ecstatic, to say the least. "Spitfire, you're back! I can't believe you made it!"

Spitfire was still somewhat out of breath as she and Nathan hugged each other briefly. "I wouldn't have, if Rainbow hadn't found me so fast - Gave me enough time to fly back!"

Rainbow Dash turned to Rarity. "Rare, I couldn't have done it without you. And I'm sorry I doubted you. But why didn't you tell me what you were doing?"

"Well, I didn't want to get your hopes up until I was sure, and I couldn't be sure until I saw that chocolate stain."

"Thank you for believing in me, even when I was doubting you. I'm some friend, huh?"

This actually struck a cord with me, not just by why Rainbow was feeling that in the first place, but also for me as well. Even though I had always tried my best to do the right thing for me and my friends, there were times that I just completely fucked it up. For example, Jock's death was somewhat my fault for not being persistent enough with him, especially when I knew he was taking drugs. I thought that leaving him alone with his problems would be the best solution, considering I didn't want to be too... invasive, if you will, into his life, and that didn't turn out too well. There was also THAT incident, but I'll explain about that later.

"Actually, you're quite a good friend," Rarity countered, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "You went to get Spitfire, even though it meant you couldn't fly today."

Rainbow Dash sighed, but still remained optimistic. "I'll get my chance one day."

"Or, today!" Spitfire said, flying over to Wind Rider. "How'd you like Wind Rider's spot in the show?"

It took all of my willpower to burst into laughter at Wind Rider's reaction as he slowly started to compute what was just said. "Uh, w-w-what? Y-You can't do this to me! I'm one of the greatest Wonderbolts there ever was!"

"Not anymore," Spitfire retorted heatedly. "For attempting to frame Rainbow Dash, I hereby strip you of your Wonderbolts status!" With that, his badge representing Wonderbolt status was removed, and a miffed Wind Rider was escorted out.

Soarin was the one to speak next, this time to Rainbow Dash. "So, would you like to fly with us?"

"Would I?!" Rainbow responded, answering a quetion that didn't really need one, before going on full celebration mode. "Woo-hoo!"

She then proceded to dance over and over, and repeat phrases like "Yeah" and "Uh-huh", until...

"Uh, Rainbow Dash?"

An embarassed Rainbow responded to Soarin as we all walked out. "Coming!"

The show itself was good.

Really good.

Damn Blueblood for making me miss something as great as that.

There was basically a Red Arrows-style show, as would have been expected from an aerial display team such as themselves, but the difference was that unlike the Red Arrows, the PAF, the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels, the aerobatics were done much closer together, making it all the more exciting and incredible to watch.

And judging from what I saw with the crowd that day, they never got tired of it, not even Princess Celestia, who's probably seen these shows thousands of times (literally).

The rest of the day was a blur. There was more of the press to talk to, questions again about the Garden, our relationship, Equestria's first new car, which I actually answered a few questions on, but I really coudn't remember anything else.

And that was exactly the same when I was lying in bed, that night.

How do I do this?

Twilight already knows, so it'll get out sooner or later.

After ten minutes or so, going back and forth in my mind, I finally came to my conclusion.

Fuck it.